Washington D.C. – Congressman Adam Smith released the following statement regarding President Trump’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2018:

March16,2017

“President Trump has outlined a fiscal agenda that will overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy, and will likely set our country’s recent economic progress back decades. Rather than focus on expanding broad-based economic opportunities for every American to ensure their health and well-being, President Trump has proposed a budget outline that would result in the largest cuts to discretionary federal programs and agencies in decades.

“The economic vision presented today by the President ignores the budget realities that real Americans face. The President supports dramatic cuts to critical programs that help working American’s build a better life for their families, while erroneously stating we spend too much on international affairs. Cutting programs that protect our planet for future generations, in order to unnecessarily increase our nuclear weapons capability, shows how painfully disconnected this ‘skinny’ budget is from the needs of everyday Americans.

“National security encompasses much more than defense. Increasing the defense budget at the expense of nondefense spending is unacceptable. The three pillars of diplomacy, development, and defense are absolutely essential to protecting the American people and our interests at home and abroad. These requested cuts to our foreign affairs budget show a profound lack of understanding of our approach to international engagement that has protected America and our allies, and are based on an isolationist worldview. Gutting diplomacy and development, while relying solely on military power abroad, would be devastating to our national security. Development programs that have been funded on a bipartisan basis for years are critical to our country's national security interests.

“The President’s budget outline should reflect an interest in making government work better for everyone, not a desire to limit the government’s ability to improve the lives of working Americans. In releasing today’s Budget Blueprint, the President has followed through with his reckless campaign promise to slash important government programs that give hard-working Americans the tools they need to provide for their families and build a strong America.”